U.S. patent application number 13/958564 was filed with the patent office on 2015-02-05 for multi-storey buildings built over road air-spaces.
The applicant listed for this patent is Avraham Suhami. Invention is credited to Avraham Suhami.
Application Number | 20150033647 13/958564 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 52426377 |
Filed Date | 2015-02-05 |
United States Patent
Application |
20150033647 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Suhami; Avraham |
February 5, 2015 |
Multi-storey buildings built over road air-spaces
Abstract
The invention discloses multi-storey building structures of
different sizes and purposes, built on long-span beams laid on
cornerstones of minimal dimensions, on the opposite sidewalks of
streets and the medians separating street lanes. Such buildings
basically occupy the air-space above streets and roads and may be
used for parking garages, residential, office and commercial space
or for an optimal combination of them. Parking garages built on the
air-space above intersections of roads may enable entry from any
direction and exit to a different one, with or without parking and
greatly contribute to the rationalization of car traffic in modern
mega-cities. Such multi-storey buildings comprising in addition to
parking garages, office, residential and commercial space, may save
valuable timing wasted in going from one place to another.
Inventors: |
Suhami; Avraham; (Petah
Tikva, IL) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Suhami; Avraham |
Petah Tikva |
|
IL |
|
|
Family ID: |
52426377 |
Appl. No.: |
13/958564 |
Filed: |
August 4, 2013 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
52/236.3 |
Current CPC
Class: |
E04H 6/10 20130101; E01C
1/02 20130101; E04H 14/00 20130101; E01C 1/002 20130101; E04B 1/34
20130101; E04H 1/04 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
52/236.3 |
International
Class: |
E04H 6/10 20060101
E04H006/10; E04B 1/34 20060101 E04B001/34 |
Claims
1. A multi storey structure extending on the air-space over roads,
built on cornerstone foundation supports located on, one of
sidewalks bordering said roads, medians separating road lanes and
roundabouts at intersections of roads.
2. A multi storey structure extending on the air-space over roads
as in claim 1, wherein one or more columns located between the
cornerstone foundation supports, for supporting said structure/
3. A multi storey structure extending on the air-space over roads
as in claim 1, wherein the supporting columns are interlinked by
one of reinforced concrete layer and steel beams, situated under
said roads.
4. A multi storey structure extending on the air-space over roads
as in claim 1, wherein each floor of the structure rests on the
continued upper extensions of the original supports.
5. A multi storey structure extending on the air-space over roads
as in claim 1 wherein elevators to the floors of the structure are
adjacent to the cornerstone foundations, enable entry from the
sidewalks and exit from the elevator directly into the floors.
6. A multi storey structure extending on the air-space over roads
as in claim 1 wherein the structure is erected on cornerstone
foundations situated at the corners of sidewalks bordering an
intersection of two or more roads.
7. A multi storey structure extending on the air-space over roads
as in claim 1 wherein the structure is erected on cornerstone
foundations situated at the respective medians, separating the
lanes leading to the intersection of two or more roads.
8. A multi storey structure extending on the air-space over roads
as in claim 7 wherein physical barriers built before and after the
cornerstone foundations and the adjacent elevators, divert traffic,
forcing it to pass around said cornerstone foundations, elevators
and people accessing said elevators.
9. A multi storey structure extending on the air-space over roads
as in claim 1 built on three cornerstone foundation supports,
wherein all the floors of the building stand on the vertical
extensions of said cornerstones supports.
10. A multi storey structure extending on the air-space over roads
as in claim 1, built on three cornerstone foundation supports,
wherein beams supported by said cornerstone foundations are
mutually inclined and physically joined at the apex, forming a
pyramid shaped building.
11. A multi storey structure extending on the air-space over roads
as in claim 1 used as a parking garage, wherein said building have
ramps from and to the roads over which it stands, enabling cars to
reach one of its floors and wherein at least one lane in each
direction of the road leading to the intersection, stays
unencumbered and lets cars continue in their original
direction.
12. A multi storey structure extending on the air-space over roads
as in claim 1 wherein the parking garage occupies the lower floors
of the building while the floors above the garage are used for
commercial, office and residential occupancy.
13. A two storey parking garage as in claim 1 extending on the
air-space over a road of at least 2 lanes in each direction, built
on cornerstone foundation supports on the opposite sidewalks of the
road, accessible from each direction, and 13.1 up and down ramps to
and from the first floor in one direction, and 13.2 up and down
ramps to and from the second floor in the opposite direction.
14. A multi storey structure extending on the air-space over a road
as in claim 1 wherein the cornerstone foundation supports of the
structure are on sidewalks of the opposite sides of a road.
15. A multi storey structure extending on the air-space over a road
as in claim 1 wherein each floor may be divided into multiple
apartments whose sizes may be changed by movable partitions on
rails.
16. A multi storey structure extending on the air-space over a road
as in claim 15 wherein the movable partitions store folding
furniture including beds, chests, desks, couches, chairs, armchairs
and bookshelves.
17. A multi storey parking garage extending on the air-space over
roads built on cornerstone foundation supports located on one of
sidewalks bordering said roads, medians separating road lanes and
roundabouts at intersections of roads that enables automated
vehicle parking comprising: 17.1 Clearly marked predetermined
routes from the base station floor to the designated parking place
at any floor on the structure, and 17.2 A robotic trolley for
carrying the driverless car to designated parking places, and 17.3
Cameras and distance measuring emitter/sensors for imaging the
vicinity of the route from the base station to the designated
parking places, and 17.4 Occupancy markers at all designated
parking places, and 17.5 A master processor that stores the
software that controls all the actions of the robotic trolley.
18. A multi storey parking garage extending on the air-space over
roads that features automated vehicle parking as in claim 17
wherein any predetermined route to the designated parking place is
marked with one of a continuous magnetic strip and color painted
track, and 18.1 Visual panels that are clearly recognized by
imaging cameras on the robotic trolley and 18.2 Ultrasound
reflecting panels for measuring distances with ultrasound
emitter/sensors.
19. A multi storey parking garage extending on the air-space over
roads that features automated vehicle parking as in claim 17
wherein the robotic trolley's height is less than the distance of
the bottom of the vehicle above ground and comprises: 19.1 an upper
platform that can be raised by one of a car jack lever and a
battery activated hydraulic mechanism, and 19.2 independent wheels,
whose speed is set by coaxial DC motors on a common horizontal
axle, and 19.2.1 electrical motors on vertical shafts linked to the
horizontal axles, for controlling the steering direction of each of
the wheels independently, and 19.3 a rechargeable electrical
battery, and 19.4 a local processor that receives instructions from
and relays information that its sensors obtain to, a master
processor, by wireless communication means, and 19.5 Magnetic and
optical sensors for determining the instantaneous positions of the
track on the route to the designated parking place.
20. A multi storey parking garage extending on the air-space over
roads that features automated vehicle parking as in claim 19
comprising sensors for determining automatically, in real time, the
parking space's occupancy status and 20.1 display means for showing
occupancy status of all parking spaces in real time, and 20.2
wireless means for broadcasting available parking spaces on the
internet, and 20.3 wireless means for reservation of parking spaces
from remote locations.
Description
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0001] This invention relates to buildings structure.
BACKGROUND
[0002] Multi-storey buildings across roads have been built; however
each of the structures built on each side of the road are of
substantial size as is the middle structure bridging the two side
buildings that is over the road. The middle building mainly serves
as a passageway to connect the two side buildings, while the
offices and parking garages are on the side buildings.
[0003] To the best of our knowledge there are no multi-storey
buildings, built on columns situated either on the edge of
sidewalks, on the medians separating driving lanes or both.
[0004] Autonomous driverless vehicles have been proposed and some
have been tested on the roads. However the design goal of these
autonomous vehicles is to replace the human driver on the road; as
such they include sensors to image and check the surroundings
around the vehicle and a controller to quickly react to changes and
adapt the speed, steering and brakes of the vehicle.
[0005] The general purpose autonomous vehicle has to respond to the
plethora of situations that a human driver may encounter during
extended driving, even when the odds of such situations are very
small.
[0006] Our purpose in automated driverless parking is much limited,
it is driving for several minutes at very low speed along a
predetermined route, at low and steady speed and have a very high
maneuvering capabilities, that enable parking in minimal
spaces.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0007] The invention describes the building of multi-storey parking
garages, residential and office buildings or a combination thereof,
on the air-space above streets and roads, on long-span beams laid
on cornerstone foundation supports of minimal cross-sections, on
the opposite sidewalks of said streets and/or the medians
separating street lanes.
[0008] In the case of a structure built on the air-space above an
intersection of roads, the cornerstone foundation supports of
minimal cross-sections, may be placed at the corner edges of the
sidewalks around the intersection and/or at a median separating
lanes. When the span between the sidewalk cornerstone foundation
supports is large, an additional support column placed in the
middle of the intersection helps support the structure. Consecutive
floors of the structure are built in the same manner by laying
large span steel beams, with or without concrete, so as to optimize
the strength, flexibility and compression of the floor, depending
its usage.
[0009] The cornerstone foundation supports may be linked by a
reinforced concrete layer under the intersection roads, thus
reinforcing the integrity of the building. Support columns situated
on the medians between lanes may also be used to support the
structure on the air-space.
[0010] Such buildings are advantageous mainly in mid-cities where
real-estate land is practically unavailable or extremely
expensive.
[0011] Parking garages built on road intersections serve to
alleviate the need for parking spaces that are extremely scarce in
mid-cities and also alleviate traffic bottlenecks on road
intersections.
[0012] Such parking garage structures allow access from all
directions and exits onto different directions, after parking or
without it, while leaving at least one lane for pass-through
crossing the intersection. The over the air-space parking garage
also duplicates what the traffic lights do and consequently may in
some cases eliminate the need for traffic lights at the
intersection. An intersection with traffic lights may be converted
onto a roundabout without traffic lights. Multi-storey parking
garages may specifically be adapted to autonomous driverless
vehicles as the route in the garage, to a preassigned parking place
is well determined in advance, with no need for maneuvering the
car, that requires human decisions. A highly maneuverable robotic
trolley may carry the vehicle, to its parking place and back, thus
relieving the human driver of the chore to park his car. Sensors
pre-installed in the multi-storey garage supplement the
capabilities of the robotic trolley and enable to safely bring the
vehicle into its designated place, which may be reserved in
advance, through the internet.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0013] FIG. 1 illustrates a multi-storey building erected on 4
cornerstone foundation supports situated on the 4 sidewalks of the
street intersections and a central support column.
[0014] FIG. 2 illustrates a multi-storey building erected on 4
cornerstone foundation supports each situated on the medians of the
lanes of intersecting streets and a central support column.
[0015] FIG. 3 illustrates a multi-storey building erected on 8
cornerstone foundation supports situated on the 8 sidewalks
adjacent to 8 streets leading to a central octagonal roundabout and
a supporting column in the centre of the roundabout
[0016] FIG. 4 illustrates side and top views of a multi-storey
parking garage supported by columns erected on the intersection of
streets, each street with 3 driving lanes in each direction.
[0017] FIG. 5 illustrates a side view of a multi-storey building
built on cornerstone foundation supports situated on the corners of
sidewalks and linked by reinforced concrete under the roads. It
also illustrates the division of the building between a parking
garage, commercial. office and residential floors
[0018] FIG. 6 illustrates the different possibilities of
partitioning the floors of the building, by combining a parking
garage on the same floor with a residential area, forming
residential areas of different sizes with movable flexible
partitions or dividing the floor into 8 micro-apartments that are
one big living room at day and 3 bedrooms at night.
[0019] FIG. 7 illustrates a top view of a multi-storey residential
or office building built on 4 cornerstone foundation supports
situated on the 4 sidewalks adjacent to the intersecting streets
and four columns situated on the medians of the streets separating
the lanes and a support column at the center of the intersection.
It also illustrates its division into 8 micro-apartments.
[0020] FIG. 8 illustrates a top view of a residential building
erected on 4 column supports situated on the medians of
intersecting streets and a column in the center of the
intersection.
[0021] FIG. 9 illustrates a multi-storey residential building built
on cornerstones on the opposite sidewalks of a 4-lane street.
[0022] FIG. 10 illustrates a 2 storey car garage built on columns
situated on the medians of a 4 lane street that can accommodate 80
cars.
[0023] FIG. 11 illustrates a possible furnishing of a
micro-apartment using folding furnitures stored in bookshelves-like
fixtures that are on rails, that can be moved in parallel to the
backwalls and thus form room-like closed spaces.
[0024] FIG. 12 illustrates a driverless autonomous vehicle that
facilitates parking in elevated floors of a parking garage.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0025] FIG. 1 illustrates the view from the top of a multi-storey
building of 106 feet diameter erected on 4 cornerstone foundation
support 1 situated on the 4 sidewalks of the streets intersection
and a central support column 3. The streets have 3 lanes in each
direction and 2 of them feature ramps leading to the building,
while the 3.sup.rd one enables to pass through under the building
and either continue on the same direction or turn right/left or
back onto one of the other streets. The traffic under the building
may be a free square or controlled by lights.
[0026] Up and down ramps 5a, 6a, enable vehicles to reach the first
floor of the building from all four directions and from there take
the ramps that lead to the upper parking floors.
[0027] The floors of the building rising on the air-space above the
intersection, are supported on long-span steel beams 5a, 5b
supported by the cornerstone columns of minimal cross-sections. The
cornerstone columns may be built of steel and concrete and comprise
in their structure, elevators 2 including their mechanical and
electrical mechanisms that enable to reach all floors from the
street level.
[0028] The central section of the building 7 is devoted to up and
down ramps for driving cars, while car parking in parking garage
floors is reserved on the periphery.
[0029] Access to the floors is through elevators 2 adjacent to the
cornerstone columns 1. Emergency downstairs are located in the
middle 4 of each floor.
[0030] The building when used as a parking garage can provide
approximately 50 parking places as explained below in connection
with FIG. 4.
[0031] FIG. 2 illustrates a multi-storey building erected on 4
cornerstone foundation supports 21 each situated on the medians of
the lanes of intersecting streets and a central support column 3 in
the middle of the intersection. In this case, the elevators 22
encompassed in the cornerstone foundation supports, are reached
through the pedestrian crosswalks 23. Consequently triangular
barriers 24 are placed in front and behind the cornerstone
foundation supports housing the elevators and the paths of the up
and down ramps 25 to reach the elevated building, have to be
changed circumvent the obstacles.
[0032] FIG. 3 illustrates a multi-storey residential building
erected on 8 cornerstone foundation supports situated on the 8
sidewalks adjacent to the 8 streets leading to a central octagonal
roundabout, and a supporting column in the centre of said
roundabout. Long span beams laid on pairs of cornerstone columns
32, 33, 35 may support the octagonal shaped building. Around the
central column 3 are emergency downstair escalators 36, while the
elevators 34 adjacent to the cornerstone foundation supports enable
access to every floor. Assuming 120' diameter of the building, each
floor has an area of 11,306 sq ft or after deducting the 20'
diameter central area and the area occupied by the elevators an
area of 10,672 sq ft.; if divided into 8 residential apartments,
this constitutes this comes to 1334 sq ft per apartment.
[0033] FIG. 4 illustrates side and top views of a parking garage
floors built on cornerstones 1, situated on the sidewalks 40 of 4
streets forming an intersection, and a column 3 in the middle of
said intersection. In this illustration, the distance between the
cornerstone posts on which long-span beams that support the
structure are laid, is 80' and the distance between a cornerstone
post and the central column is 57'. In this illustration, each
street has 3 driving lanes in each direction; the lanes close to
the sidewalk 43a, 44a are used to traverse the intersection under
the building, while the other 2 lanes in each direction have ramps
up to 43b and down from 44b the parking garage. The illustrated
parking garage building has a diameter of 106'; the central 34'
diameter section 41 has at its center the 6' wide column that
supports the beams holding the structure. Around the central column
3 are 4' wide downstairs 42, on a diameter of 14'. Around the
stairs are two counter-spiraling, 10' wide ramps on an outer
perimeter of 34' diameter, that assuming traveling in the middle of
the ramp, constitutes a 9% inclination. This leaves for a doughnut
shaped parking area 49, with an outer diameter of 106' and inner
diameter of 34', although some additional parking area is available
on the inner section, between entry and exit sections 51 of the
spiraling ramps. Cars may be parked along the outer periphery at 8'
distance by width one from the other 50; taking in account the
width of the 4 columns housing the elevators (4.times.6') this mode
allows 35 parking spots. Parking along the inner area, around the
14' diameter column housing the stairs, requires leaving 2 exit
spaces for the cars entering and exiting the ramps. Parking
lengthwise every 8' around the 34' diameter periphery, while
leaving 2 exit spaces for the cars to enter and exit the ramps,
allows 13 additional parking places. This geometry leaves a 16'
wide corridor 53 for maneuvering the parking cars. Thus around
48-50 cars can be parked in every floor.
[0034] The location of the car ramps between the floors might also
be different than the one illustrated; for example the up and down
ramps may be located on the periphery of the building or one ramp
on the periphery and the other on the center of the buildings.
Obviously the stairs too may be located on different parts of the
floor.
[0035] FIG. 5 illustrates a side view of the multi-storey building
standing on cornerstone foundation supports 1 and a central column
3. To improve the stability of tall buildings, the 4 cornerstone
foundation supports may be linked to an under-the-streets platform
of steel and concrete 48.
[0036] The efficiency of the multi-storey building is enhanced by
including in the same building, above the parking garage floors,
also commercial 50, office 51 and residential floors 52, in this
order. Thus for example a resident of the upper floors may have an
office in one of the office floors beneath the residential floors,
attend some of the shops in the commercial floors and have his car
parked in the parking garage of the building.
[0037] FIG. 6 illustrates a possible combination of a residential
area in a multi-storey building standing on cornerstone foundation
supports and a central column as illustrated in FIG. 5, with a
connected parking garage 58 on the same floor. The parking garage
adjacent to the residential area has direct access 59 to the up and
down ramps 57 and thus saves time, when coming in and going out of
the apartment. The remaining total floor area of 6534 sq ft may be
divided into 4 residential apartments of 1630 sq ft each or
furnished with movable partitions, 55a, 55b, 55c, 55d on rails 56
that enable flexible living room sizes, depending on the
circumstances. The flexible partitions may also serve both as
bookshelves and for storage of foldable furniture as explained
below in paragraph 14 and illustrated in FIG. 11.
[0038] The floor area 60 outside the car ramps 57 totaling an area
of 8825 sq ft may also be divided into 8 apartments 990 sq. ft
each. The apartments may have movable internal partitions 61a, 61b
on rails that when moved away from the back walls, for example for
10 ft, form 280 sq ft. rooms. The bookshelf like partitions may
store foldable beds, chests, tables and chairs, that when unfolded
turn these rooms into bedrooms at night.
[0039] FIG. 7 illustrates a top view of a multi-storey residential
or office building built on 4 cornerstone foundation supports 1
situated on the 4 sidewalks adjacent to the intersecting streets
and four columns 63a situated on the medians of the streets
separating the lanes and a support column 3 at the center of the
intersection. The cornerstone rectangular columns also comprise
elevators 63b that can be accessed and exited from 2 directions.
The illustrated streets in this case are 60' wide, narrower than
the exemplary 80' wide streets shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. In this case
having support columns 64 on the medians of streets allows the use
of shorter beams to support the building standing in the air-space
above the intersection. Nonetheless each floor, in this case may
accommodate 8 apartments or offices of approximately 1070 sq ft
each. In this architecture, some common appliances like washing and
drying machines airconditioning and a network communication server
66 may be shared and located in a common space 65 outside the
apartment/office. The building does not comprise parking places. A
simple parking garage of two floors is illustrated in FIG. 10.
[0040] FIG. 8 illustrates a top view of a residential building
erected on the air-space supported by 4 column 70 situated on the
medians of intersecting streets and a column 72 in the center of
the intersection around which are located the emergency downstairs
and the water and sewage conduits. In this type of a building,
access and exit is through the elevators 71 adjacent to the
supports and accessible only through pedestrian crossings 73.
Therefore the medians close to the pedestrian crossings have to be
modified so that traffic in the adjacent lanes is moved away from
the building supports and the adjacent elevators by proper physical
barriers 74. Such buildings erected on the air-space at
intersections of comparatively narrow streets may provide 4
dwellings having an area of 390 sq ft each for each floor.
[0041] FIG. 9 illustrates two multi-storey residential or office
buildings erected on the air-space between the opposite sidewalks
of a relatively narrow street where on both sides of the street are
open spaces such as parks, without residential buildings. Thus such
buildings do not hamper the view across the street to anyone.
[0042] One of the buildings is a rectangular 30' wide structure
erected on 3 support columns 77a, 77b and 77c extending for a total
span of 60', on each side of the street. The building is supported
by 40' beams 81 extending from one side of the street to the other.
The resulting 40.times.60=2400 sq ft floor area may be divided into
four residences, each 600 sq ft large. Access to each apartment is
through an elevator 78 adjacent to the cornerstone columns.
Emergency stairs 79 are by the middle support column 77b that also
contain the water and sewage installations 80.
[0043] The second building has a triangular shape; the base of the
triangle is supported by two cornerstone foundation supports 82a,
82b on the sidewalk of the street and the apex is supported by a
column 82c in the middle of an intersecting street, 45' away from
the base. The triangular structure is held by long-span steel beams
of 50' long at the base and 50' long between the base and the apex,
laid on the steel reinforced concrete cornerstones, on each floor.
Access to the various floors is by elevator 84 adjacent to the
cornerstone column 82a. Emergency escalators 85 from each floor are
by the cornerstone column 82b Each floor has a surface of 900 sq
ft.
[0044] This figure also illustrates a pyramide-like structure 86
that may be erected on 3 cornerstone foundation supports 86a, 86b,
86c; inclined steel beams with one of their ends on the support
columns, may be joined at their other ends at the apex of the
pyramide 86d. The pyramid may have a second floor supported at
half-beam points by a triangular girdle holding a triangular
platform. Access to the second floor 87 may be by stairs 88 affixed
to one of the beams.
[0045] FIG. 10 illustrates a 2 storey car garage built on 4
cornerstone foundation support columns 90 on each of the opposite
sidewalks of a street 40' wide. The length of the illustrated
parking garage is 120' and each side may accommodate 15 cars,
leaving a 10' lane in the middle of the two parking rows. Access
and descent to the first floor of the parking garage, is through
the respective up ramps from one direction 89a and access and
descent from the second floor is through the respective ramps from
the other direction 89b. People descent is through stairs 89 behind
the support columns.
[0046] As each floor of the parking garage may accommodate 30 cars,
the parking garage may accommodate 60 cars. As the up and down
ramps in practice block the two middle lanes of the street, they
can also be used for additional parking of another 30 cars.
[0047] FIG. 11 illustrates a possible furnishing of a
micro-apartment of 360 sq ft illustrated in FIG. 7, using folding
furnitures stored in bookshelves-like fixtures 92a, 92b that are on
rails 93a, 93b and can be moved in parallel to the backwalls, thus
forming room-like closed spaces of 60 sq ft and 70 sq ft. A master
folding bed 96 and two chests 97 may unfold out of one of the
bookshelf-like fixtures thus forming a master bedroom, while out of
the other bookshelf-like fixture two child beds 101a, 101b and a
desk 100a may unfold. Out of the other side of the bookshelf-like
fixture a couch 100b and two armchairs 102a, 102b may unfold for
use in the 120 sq ft living room. Other collapsible furniture
stored in the bookshelf-like fixture include a collapsible table 93
and chairs 98.
[0048] FIG. 12 illustrates the autonomous driverless parking
feature that facilitates parking in elevated floors. While driving
a floor or two or even three for parking a car is acceptable,
driving 10 or 20 floors is not. Therefore autonomous, driverless
parking is a must in multi-storey parking garages.
[0049] The status of any parking place, in the multi-storey garage
is at all times monitored, for example by light beams between a
light source 109a and a light sensor 109b, that indicate when the
space between the two is blocked. This information is transferred
by wireless to a central processor 121 that broadcasts this
information on the internet and displays it visually on large
displays 104 inside and outside the parking garage.
[0050] As the route 106 in the garage, from the base station where
the car driver leaves his car, to a preassigned parking place 108
is well determined, the car may be brought to its parking place by
a robotic platform 111 that follows the preassigned route. The
robotic platform 111 is on sturdy wheels 126 and gets its
instructions by wireless 113 from a central processor 121 through a
remote controller which can be a smartphone 122 loaded with a
specific application. When placed under the car, its hydraulic car
jack like lever 114 may be activated to lift the car that may weigh
up to 2 tons.
[0051] The energy E needed to lift the car for 10 floors, for
example, taking in account 7' high parking garage floors, may be
calculated by E=mgh where (m) is the weight of the car (2 tons)
(g)=9.81 is the gravity constant and (h) height of the 10 floors.
This calculation neglects the friction to be overcome while
climbing the 10 floors.
mgh=[2.10.sup.3(9.81)][21 meters].apprxeq.(4.2)10.sup.4 Joules=42
kw-second
[0052] In terms of LiFePo.sub.4 battery capacity that produces a
voltage of 3.2V, in (Amp)(hour) terms, 1 Ah, (3.2)
(3600)watt-sec=11.5 kWsec.
[0053] Therefore the energy needed to move a 2 ton car for 10
floors is [(42)/(11.5)]=3.65 Ah
[0054] An order of magnitude estimate for all other factors that
consume energy, mainly friction and motor inefficiencies, may be
obtained by comparison with the energy consumption of electric
cars. An electric car uses on the average around 25 kWh for 100
miles. The length of the 10 floors route in the parking garage
described in FIG. 3 is 10(.pi.D)=1068'; adding a tour of the floor
of .pi.D=333' for parking the car and multiplying by 2 for the
return trip, it comes to a total route of 2800' which is
approximately 1/2.sup.th of a mile.
[0055] Therefore it approximately takes for an electric car less
than 125 Wh or 40 Ah of LiFePo.sub.4 batteries with a V=3.2V to run
the 0.5 mile route. Adding to that the energy to lift the car of
3.65 Ah the total energy expended comes to approximately 44 Ah.
[0056] Thus a battery of 220 Ah having dimensions of 205*103*370 mm
can support more than 5 parking tours up and down up to 10 floors,
before requiring a recharge.
[0057] The robotic platform may travel at 10 miles/hr taking 3
minutes to travel the parking route of 1400' forth and back. Future
Lithium Sulfure batteries that promise to have 4 times the capacity
for the same energy will enable to reduce the size of the batteries
in the trolley. The trolley uses more than 90% efficient DC motors
123 that determine speed, to control each of the 4 wheels 126
independently, thus enabling to steer and maneuver itself into
narrow parking spaces accurately.
[0058] The wheels' axial positions are independently controlled by
other electrical motors 125 that also receive their instructions by
wireless from the central processor 121 through a controller that
may be a smartphone. Thus for example when all 4 wheels are turned
onto a direction perpendicular to the long axis of the platform
127, the trolley will move sideways, for example onto a parking
place 128 by the sidewalk of the road.
[0059] The robotic platform carries a magnetic sensor 117 that
senses deviation from a magnetic strip or wire laid on the middle
of the ramps and the routes to the parking places in all the
floors. Alternatively other technologies may be used to sense the
middle of the route, for example a camera for detecting the
position of a specific colored strip.
[0060] The route of the trolley may also be controlled by an
inertial guidance system. Using MEMS sensors to measure velocity,
accelerations and pressure as a function of time, enable to
determine current position at all times and lead the trolley to the
allocated parking place of the car.
[0061] When following a track, the deviation signal from the center
of the track is processed and an appropriate correction signal is
fed to the DC motors that control the 4 wheels, thus enabling to
stay on course, reach the parking place and park the car. The
robotic trolley may then lower the car onto its wheels and wait for
further instructions. A video camera and an ultrasound
emitter-sensor for distance measurement 112 is placed on top of the
car for imaging the route to the parking place and watching any
unforeseen situation from a control center manned by a human. The
human controller can at all times stop the robotic platform and or
assign it a route different than following the magnetic/colored
strip, by giving its DC motors that control the routes the
appropriate directions.
[0062] An optical camera with an ultrasound emitter/sensor 108E
positioned on the car roof transmit images at all times during the
route to the parking place. The ultrasound emitter/sensor measures
distance from reflectors 108U pre-installed in the multi-storey
garage at strategic places, for example at an exit of the ramp, and
enable to transmit distances from such reflectors thus
complementing the visual images.
[0063] There are multiple ways to realize the invention explained
above, combine the differentiating features illustrated in the
accompanying figures, and devise new embodiments of the method
described, without departing from the scope and spirit of the
present invention. Those skilled in the art will recognize that
other embodiments and modifications are possible. While the
invention has been described with respect to the preferred
embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the
art that changes may be made in the above structures and in the
foregoing sequences of operation without departing substantially
from the scope and spirit of the invention. All such changes,
combinations, modifications and variations are intended to be
included herein within the scope of the present invention, as
defined by the claims. It is accordingly intended that all matter
contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying
figures be interpreted as illustrative rather than in a limiting
sense.
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